Name: Gingerbread Cookies
Prep time: 40 min
Total time: 210 min
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling; 2 teaspoons ground ginger; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 0.5 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 0.25 teaspoon ground cloves; 0.25 teaspoon baking soda; 0.25 teaspoon salt; 0.5 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature; 0.333 cup packed dark-brown sugar; 0.333 cup unsulfured molasses; 1 large egg; Decorating sugar or sprinkles (optional)

Prep Time:

40 mins

Total Time:

3 hrs 30 mins

Yield:

36

Do you think gingerbread cookies are essential for the holidays? We do. The nostalgic smell, look, and taste of these spiced cookies sums up Christmas celebrations. Made with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, dark-brown sugar, and molasses, our classic gingerbread cookies are sure to become a staple of your holiday baking. You can cut them into whatever shape you like (we went with stars here, but gingerbread people, trees, snowflakes, rounds would all be equally good.) And you can decorate them intricately with piped royal icing or edible gold leaf, or simply with nonpareils (like we did here) or sanding sugar.

Key Ingredients

Spices

Though they are called gingerbread, ginger is not the only spice used for these cookies—and for most classic gingerbread cookies. Dried ginger is central, but three other warm spices amplify the cozy yet spicy flavor of the ginger: cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

Before making gingerbread cookies (or starting your holiday baking), check you have the spices you need and that they are fresh. If ground spices have little aroma or you know they have been on your spice rack for over a year, it's time to invest in new spices. They will make a big difference to the flavor of the cookies, and if your spices are old, you may find the cookies lack that comforting holiday spice smell.

Molasses

Molasses is a key ingredient in gingerbread cookies. It’s a liquid sweetener that is a dark, syrup-like byproduct of the sugar-making process. It is often used in old-fashioned baked goods, like gingerbread and gingerbread cookies.

There are three main types of molasses: light, dark or medium, and blackstrap. For baking recipes, look for dark or medium molasses. Blackstrap is unsweetened and has a bitter flavor, and is not suitable for recipes unless they specifically call for blackstrap molasses.

When buying molasses, you will see sulfured or unsulfured noted on the label. Most brands available in grocery stores are unsulfured. This means they were not treated with sulfur as a preservative. Note that sorghum molasses is not the same as the molasses used in gingerbread cookies. It is another dark syrupy sweetener, but it is made from the grain sorghum rather than from sugar.

Spray your measuring cup with vegetable spray before measuring the molasses which is very sticky.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
⅓ cup packed dark-brown sugar
⅓ cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg
Decorating sugar or sprinkles (optional)

Directions

Combine dry ingredients:

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
Combine butter and sugar; add molasses and egg:

With an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in molasses and egg.
Add dry ingredients to wet:

With mixer on low, add dry ingredients; mix just until a dough forms.
Transfer dough to plastic wrap, form, and chill:

Place dough on floured plastic wrap; pat into an 8-inch square. Wrap well; chill until firm, 1 to 2 hours.
Preheat oven, divide dough, and roll half:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Divide dough in half. Working with one half at a time (rewrap and refrigerate other half), place dough on floured parchment or waxed paper; roll out 1/8 inch thick, turning, lifting, and flouring dough (and rolling pin) as needed. Freeze dough (on paper) until firm, about 20 minutes.
Cut out cookies and decorate:

Loosen dough from paper. Cut out shapes, and transfer to baking sheets. Decorate with sugar or sprinkles, as desired.

For the neatest edges to your cookies, dip cutters in flour before cutting out each cookie.

The gingerbread cookie dough doesn't spread much in the oven so the cookies can be placed fairly close together on the baking sheet.
Bake:

Bake until firm and edges just begin to darken, 10 to 18 minutes, depending on size. Cool completely on baking sheets.

Storage

These crisp gingerbread cookies keep well. Store them in an airtight container and they will last for up to three weeks. Their long shelf life means they are also a good cookie to make for gifting.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the secret to good gingerbread?

Not overworking the dough is key when making gingerbread. Also chilling the dough makes it easier to work with and allows the flavors of the gingerbread to develop.

Is it better to use shortening or butter in gingerbread cookies?

We always prefer to use butter for cookies, and for baking in general. (Be sure to use unsalted butter so you can control how much salt is in your cookies.)